SEO/PPC Management services?

What's the difference?

[webpundit]

GoToast is a formidable force in the PPC management service area. I'm trying to understand their service so as to decide whether to buy into it or not and have 2 questions:

1. What is the difference between GoToast's PPC management service and other PPC tools like PPC Pro and BidRank?

2. Are there any other PPC management services are out there at all? GoToast is the only thing I keep hearing about.

[edited by: seth_wilde at 3:56 pm (utc) on Feb. 12, 2004]

[redzone]

PPC Pro and BidRank are desktop tools, you use your bandwidth and have only (1) point to point connection to manage your bids at Overture.

Web based services like Toast and PPCBidTracker have multiple servers, they cover the bandwidth, and insure better connectivity to Overture.

[shorebreak]

One similarity, however, between GoToast, BidRank, EpicSky and Did-It is that they all apply a keyword-level, rules-based approach to bid management. This means they optimize at the keyword level and not at the keyword portfolio level. This means they're all leaving significant ROI on the table IMO.

From what I've heard (mostly from companies spending $100K-$1M/mo on paid search, very few if any have done much more than test GoToast, and there's probably no more than a small handful that have fully deployed the product. GoToast says they have ~700 customers and $3-4M in annual revenues, which means only a small, small % of their clients have done much more than the 14-day trial.

That said, they're still the best product if rules-based bid management is what you're looking for. If, however, you believe that managing to portfolio-level investment goals (as in the world of equities) makes more sense than individual stock picking, GoToast is IMO very weak.

[webdiversity]

What is the difference between GoToast's PPC management service and other PPC tools like PPC Pro and BidRank

Bells, whistles, price and slick marketing.

It really depends on what the objectives of the clients are and who currently does the management.

All of the tools are sophisticated, so novice users might read all about bid strategies, but to be fair I would wager that hardly any would understand how to implement even 20% of the rules based bidding strategies.

If you have 1000 keywords, it might be 100 that are really active and would benefit from software, but if those 100 change frequently, you may end up paying for something you don't need, or spend all day moving keywords in and out of the limit.

There are several approved software solutions, and there are also companies that can do it all for you. There is an argument that will be put forward for relative merit on both sides.

Decide on your objectives, budget etc. and then choose on that basis.

[tfanelli]

I have been using GoToast for over a year now and I love. One thing that makes it better than the desktop software is they keep it much more up to date. I found with the desktop software, it would take a lot longer for the companies to get a fix, then I had to download it and install it. With Gotoast it happens automatically, so I dont even worry about it. They are very ontop of their product working with all the current changes in the PPC engines.

[Udayan]

I would agree with webdiversity in this rather "long lasting thread". There is a big difference in the way service is defined in the PPC bid management industry.
Any software whether GT or BR or others are driven by rules and have limited usability in terms of maximising ROI,especially in the portfolio level(correctly pointed out by shorebreak).Though they often are able to get the client a distinct reduction in costs they are by no means "complete".They are tools and not service solutions.

PPC campaign management service attempts at bridging this gap by customising the service solution to optimize a campaign better.But yes,a professionally conducted operation is more useful till about 200 keywords(withour rambling much into the complex portfolio management theories and simply based on basic human capabilities of intuition and an ability to judge and choose from options).They are able to manage portfolio better so as to derive a greater bang for the buck.

But then, as WD pointed out that there are not many instances of 100+ kw's being placed in over competitive categories that need continuous updation(though limited by SE restrictions).

My 2 cents on the topic.